(Adds Steinmeier)
By Mark John and Paul Taylor
BUCHAREST, April 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine and Georgia faced an
uphill battle on Wednesday to persuade NATO nations to put the
two ex-Soviet states on the path to membership, with Germany and
France leading resistance to their U.S.-backed bids.
U.S. President George W. Bush vowed on the eve of a NATO
summit in Bucharest, starting later on Wednesday, to press their
case. But a core of European states say the duo are not ready
for a step which could exacerbate tensions with Russia.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was quoted
as saying NATO should not strain ties with Moscow beyond "the
limit of the manageable" by supporting their request for a
Membership Action Plan (MAP), a gateway to eventual membership.
Ukraine and Georgia would instead be offered "a whole range
of very practical and concrete steps to deepen ties" with NATO,
Steinmeier told the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper.
He gave no details.
In the most explicit expression yet of France's scepticism,
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday Paris would
oppose giving Kiev and Tbilisi a MAP to avoid upsetting the
balance of power with Russia. Germany shares those objections.
A final decision was expected to emerge during a dinner on
Wednesday where Bush, attending his farewell NATO summit, will
meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President
Nicolas Sarkozy.
One senior NATO diplomat believed the prospect of agreement
on membership plans at the summit was already lost and expected
the United States to change tack and seek firm commitments that
the two should not have to wait too much longer.
"The real issue now is how hard the United States will try
to push for France and Germany to make a commitment to MAP (for
Ukraine and Georgia) in 2009," said the diplomat.
However, others warned against writing off their chances,
given the United States' knack in the past of cajoling European
allies into line at the last minute, as when Serbia unexpectedly
won a partnership pact at the 2006 NATO summit.
"NATO membership must remain open to all of Europe's
democracies that seek it and are ready to share in the
responsibilities of NATO membership," Bush was due to say in a
pre-summit speech on Wednesday, according to an advance text.
BALKANS FEARS
On other issues, Fillon told parliament that France may send
a few hundred extra troops to Afghanistan to help NATO's biggest
military mission, apparently fewer than the 1,000 combat troops
President Nicolas Sarkozy was expected to announce.
Greece said it was unlikely to resolve a row over the name
of NATO-aspirant Macedonia in time for the ex-Yugoslav republic
to be invited to join the alliance alongside other hopefuls
Croatia and Albania this week, despite strong U.S. pressure.
Some fear Macedonia's exclusion will plunge it into a new
political crisis, with repercussions for a region already on
tenterhooks over Kosovo's Feb. 17 secession from Serbia.
France and Germany, backed by several smaller west European
allies, say Ukraine and Georgia do not meet NATO's criteria.
Public support in Ukraine for joining NATO is barely 30
percent; and Georgia does not control all of its own territory
because of frozen conflicts with Moscow-backed separatists.
Russia, whose president, Vladimir Putin, is a guest of the
summit on Friday, denounces the bids on grounds that NATO is
intruding on its sphere of influence. NATO Secretary-General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer insists Moscow has no right of veto.
Putin has invited Bush to his holiday home in Sochi on the
Black Sea afterwards to discuss a "legacy agreement" on future
arms control.
Diplomats have sketched a possible trade-off, in which
Moscow would accept U.S. plans to deploy its anti-missile
defence shield in central Europe and Washington would accept a
delay in the Georgian and Ukrainian NATO bids. U.S. officials
insist no such deal is on the table.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Matt Spetalnick,
Justyna Pawlak and Randall Palmer in Bucharest and Francois
Murphy in Paris)
